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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28084722">you, you follow philosophies. but me, i laugh, i choke</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fernfuneral/pseuds/fernfuneral'>fernfuneral</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Burials, Gen, Immortality, No shipping, Sam | Awesamdude-Centric, Temporary Character Death, dream and techno are also uh. gods, dream and techno are in the prison together, dream is there but he’s dead, lowercase on purpose, prose</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:15:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,032</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28084722</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fernfuneral/pseuds/fernfuneral</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“the sky shattered, thunder rumbling across the land as a howl shook the walls of the prison.</p><p>they were fighting again, and one of them had just lost.”</p><p>or,</p><p>what if dream and techno were trapped in the prison together?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clay | Dream &amp; Dave | Technoblade</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>240</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>you, you follow philosophies. but me, i laugh, i choke</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>the sky shattered, thunder rumbling across the land as a howl shook the walls of the prison. the keycard sat heavily in sam’s breast pocket, pressed close to his heart underneath the fabric of his shirt and metal of his armor. </p><p>they were fighting again, and one of them had just lost.</p><p>this was not uncommon. not anymore. their fights rattled the walls and rent the quiet that shrouded the prison. there was no reprieve, not after they’d realized they were untouched by the bounds of life and death even while imprisoned.</p><p>sam supposed that it was easier this way, if they were distracted. he dreaded the day they grew bored.</p><p>two deities, locked in battle, flaying the skin from their bones until their ichor colored the floors of their cage gold. interlocked in a constant waltz of spattered gore and grit teeth. </p><p>and then one of them would lose, succumbing to his injuries, to be buried. and yet he would rise again, an hour later, spitting grave dirt from his mouth and grinning with the spitfire smile of somebody who was exhilarated by the horror of being torn apart.</p><p>the realization that he, only a man under the eyes of gods and kings, had built something that could contain not one, but two divinities, made sam’s heart race. he’d likened himself to the inventor daedalus, once upon a time, but he would not be so foolish to give into hubris and think himself more than the two beings he’d captured.</p><p>maybe they’d tear each other apart. maybe they wouldn’t.</p><p>sam would be there, even still.</p><p>the lightning-shock tang of dream’s blood was thick in the halls of the prison. technoblade had won this spar. it was not too surprising. dream had been on a winning streak, and techno was not one to be bested, even with an audience consisting of one man.</p><p>the constant rainfall surrounding the cage sang a rhythm to sam, light and careful, and he was reminded of who he used to be. a small smile flitted across his face, unbidden, thick with a twist of resentment. it had been so simple when he was younger and knew not of the men who were not men, so powerful the ground shattered beneath their feet, who walked among him, laughed with him. </p><p>he had never been comforted by things being simple.</p><p>techno’s voice echoed through the empty halls. he was talking, as he buried dream. speaking of a time long past. it had become a sort of ritual for them, sam knew. as one put the other into the ground, he’d speak as if they were friends. stories would spill from his lips, dripping with nostalgia, even when he spoke of doing horrible things, of death and destruction, saturating the earth with the lifeblood of those who displeased him.</p><p>it was sobering. it reminded sam that the things in his prison were very, very old, and he was so incredibly young.</p><p>from somewhere buried within the keep, he heard technoblade quiet his voice, listened as he asked if dream would like him to sing as the other was lowered into the dirt.</p><p>predictably, there was no response.</p><p>from somewhere buried within sam’s chest, he could almost feel the phantom echo of a song, melody rising with the thump of his heart. it was almost unbearable, when a god sounded so mortal.</p><p>almost haunting, when he knew what techno had done. sam had ears in many places, and legend was not a thing to be brushed off, in a world such as theirs. what creature could speak so softly as he put to rest his only counterpart, and yet feel nothing as he tore cities to the ground, sam knew not.</p><p>it’s not that he thought either of the beings in his prison emotionally bereft. he knew they had things they cared for, things that they could perhaps love, but it was different. the love of a mortal was intense in how fleeting it was. the love of a god was an endless fire, one that could just as soon burn your fingertips as it warmed your hands.</p><p>an image rose, unbidden, in his memory. the way dream looked as he laughed with george, ran his hands through sapnap’s hair in a mimicry of an older brother’s tousle. he imagined, perhaps, that dream missed them.</p><p>he hoped, selfishly, that he did.</p><p>he shifted, pressed his hand to the spot above his heart where the key lay. tugged his bottom lip between his teeth, a nervous habit, untempered in the thick mist of the storm surrounding him.</p><p>his prison would not last forever. nothing would, except for perhaps the two beings buried deep in the walls below his feet. sam could only hope to be long dead by the time they left, released back upon the world.</p><p>technoblade was humming now, quietly. it was a simple tune, nothing special, but a part of sam wished to hear it more. it made his chest ache, made him think of the warmth of fran pressed against him, the buzz of a potion in his veins.</p><p>the song echoing from below sounded sad, and impossibly tired.</p><p>perhaps sam had misjudged why the gods fought. try as he might, he could not presume to know them at all.</p><p>his sword laid heavy on his back, and time crawled forwards. welcoming himself to fall back into memory, sam sat against the wall behind him, closing his eyes in the split silence as he prepared for dream’s revival.</p><p>as he predicted, he was roused from his thoughts once more by the screaming of the building beneath him. his monolith was no less in pain than the deities she housed. sam paused, hand finding the pearl he’d let linger in his pocket, but he did nothing.</p><p>they were back at their game, laughter left devoid of humor spilling from their lips as they clashed. if sam strained his ears, he could hear a rhythm to their movements, a song shrouded in steel, rusted with gore. some childish part of him urged him to hum along. </p><p>sam wondered, idly, what color the blood of gods shone once it dried.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hi. i wrote this in one sitting and didnt want to edit it so it is what it is, i hope you enjoyed.</p><p>title from “that unwanted animal” by the amazing devil</p></blockquote></div></div>
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